The 800 Pound Gorilla
Exodus 29:45-46 I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God.
Fear isn’t something we like talking all that much about. It sends a shiver down your spine. And yet it’s something that we all go through. It’s a universal reality of the human condition. Of course, when you’re the one who’s afraid, that doesn’t really matter because it feels like you’re the only one.
So when there’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room who wants to rip you apart limb by limb, it’s hard to believe that God is stronger than the gorilla. Of course He is, it just doesn’t feel like it when we’re up close to that gorilla!
So in that place, how do you get to that point of trusting your life into God’s hands? Where you put your confidence in this God who says to you, “Do not be afraid” … instead of in the gorilla who’s ready to tear you apart, here and now? Where you’re able to put your confidence in who God is, in all He’s done for you, in His might and His power. How do you do that?
I will dwell among the Israelites, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am the Lord their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among them; I am the Lord their God. (Exodus 29:45-46)
There are eighty-seven verses in the Bible that talk about God delivering the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt and most of those are meant as a reminder, to help God’s people look back and see the mighty things that He did. The plagues that He brought on Egypt, the way He protected the fleeing Israelites from the great Egyptian army. How He parted the waters of the Red Sea so they could escape, and how He brought those same waters crashing down on the greatest army in the world, to completely and utterly destroy them.
So when that 800-pound gorilla in the room wants to tear me apart, here’s what I do. I look back and remember what happened the last time I met an 800-pound gorilla.
It wasn’t much of a contest really. God won. Hands down. He always does.
I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt that I might dwell among you; I am the Lord your God
That’s God’s Word. Fresh … for you … today.
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Carol Bayley
This is where I get confused. I thought God forgave people, even bad people. Yet He killed thousands of people, many ...
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This is where I get confused. I thought God forgave people, even bad people. Yet He killed thousands of people, many of them innocent children, with diseases and floods and armies, etc.
Don’t really understand this situation!! Seems contradictory to God’s teachings to me. But what do I know?